Monday, May 26, 2014

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Memorial Day 2014 Edition

We at SuperPhillip Central would like to honor all of the servicemen and women who fight for our freedom, put others before themselves, and make our country proud. With that lovely sentiment out of the way, we have five new video game themes to add to our ever-expanding list of VGMs. This week we have our usual mix of marvelous VGM goodness. Such games featured this week include Mario Kart 8, Valkyria Chronicles, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.

Mario Kart 8 releases in multiple territories this week, so why not kick off this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs with some music from the game? Dolphin Shoals is a land and sea track that appears in the Star Cup of the game. It features one mean saxophone that makes this piece god tier. The music of Mario Kart 8 in general is absolutely amazing, and we can only hope Nintendo releases a soundtrack for the game in the near future... preferably on this side of the Pacific, too.

Hitoshi Sakimoto has a remarkable resume of excellent compositions and soundtracks under his belt. Valkyria Chronicles is but one of these, in addition to Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, among other titles. Desperate Fight is a very dramatic track, perfect for dealing in tactical tank warfare, which Valkyria Chronicles provides in spades.

Yoko Shimomura certainly knows how to dazzle us with her compositions, and The Law of Pajamaja from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is no exception. The areas in Dream Team are quite expansive, so it's great to have music that accompanies adventuring through the various lands that doesn't get grating, and even better, sound fantastic. Then again, what else could one expect from the great Yoko Shimomura?

We didn't particularly care for Custom Robo on the GameCube. Not even its music was that interesting, but one track that does sound nice is the theme that plays while setting up your robo figurine. It's a supremely casual theme that allows one to lie back and relax with its lovely guitar and soft sounds.

Wario World is a treasure on the Nintendo GameCube, albeit a short adventure. While we would love to go on about how we'd really enjoy seeing a new 3D Wario platformer, now is not the time. Instead, let's talk about this theme for the second level of Wario World. It's a peppy and snazzy jazz number that is perfect to play as Wario punches, kicks, and pummels foes into submission. A remixed version of this theme would later appear in the Wii title Wario Land: Shake It! for the Glitzville level of the game.